Reggie Royals (original) (raw)

Nicknamed "Tree" by his teammates, 6-10 Whiteville, North Carolina, native Reggie Royals was one of Florida State basketball's most proficient players. His play was vital to Florida State's most successful basketball season ever - a season that led to the NCAA national championship in 1972. His name dots the record book in almost every category. For his career, Reggie had 1,006 rebounds, placing him in the number two spot all-time. Additionally, Royals is in tenth place in the FSU Point Club with 1,402 career points scored. On top of those two outstanding records, Royal's name can be seen under the categories of career assists with 202 and career field goals made with 580. In the single season category, Royals is a member of the esteemed 500 point club, as he scored more than 500 points in his 1971-72 season. Royals also held a single game record of 35 points and 15 field goals made in a game against UC-Irvine during the 1970-71 season and he became the first player in FSU history to record a triple-double; scoring 12 points, hauling down 16 rebounds and handing out 10 assists against Georgia Southern on December 1, 1972.

From The News Reporter
Whiteville, NC
REGINALD LEGRANDE 'TREE' ROYALS
Published: Monday, April 20, 2009 9:11 AM EDT
WHITEVILLE, NC - Reginald Legrande 'Tree' Royals, 58, died Thursday, April 16, 2009, at Lower Cape Fear Hospice Care Center.

Final rites will be held at 1 p.m. Tuesday, April 21, at the Brunswick-Waccamaw Headquarters, 600 Pinelog Rd., Whiteville. Burial will follow in the Lennon Cemetery in Evergreen. Peoples Funeral Home of Whiteville is handling the arrangements.

Survivors include a daughter, Shanequa Collier of Whiteville; a son, Ed Ward of Florida; a sister, Patricia Royals of Tulsa, Okla.; and three grandchildren.

Viewing will be at the funeral home on Monday, April 20 from noon-7 p.m. and Tuesday, April 21 from 9-11 a.m. Viewing will be at the Headquarters one hour prior to the service and again following the service.

From The Tallahassee Democrat
Published: April 25, 2009
FSU family honors Reggie Royals
By Corey Clark

It had been more than 35 years since he last walked onto a basketball court with them.

It had been more than two decades since he had even spoken to some of them.

It didn't matter. They were still his teammates. They will always be his teammates.

Former Florida State basketball star Reggie Royals, who was a vital member of FSU's Final Four squad in 1972, passed away last weekend after a battle with lung cancer.

Thanks to his fellow Seminoles, however, he didn't die alone.

"When I found out (he was ill), I called everyone I could," said former FSU great Ron King, who had lost touch with Royals in recent years. "I called everyone in the FSU family. And they all came through."

Royals knew he was dying. He was in a hospice in Oklahoma, where he had moved to live with his mother years before. There was no family around and few friends. It was just him. And he wanted to go home.

"His dying wish was to get back to Whiteville (N.C.)," King said.

That wish was answered.

"Reggie didn't have any insurance," King said. "But after I called the FSU family, an anonymous donor donated the $5,000 it cost to get him from Oklahoma to Whiteville."

He died at the Lower Cape Fear Hospice & Life Care Center in his hometown. The funeral was Tuesday. The 6-foot-10 Royals was laid to rest in a nearby cemetery.

In his final days, the Seminoles' 14th all-time career scorer received calls from a number of teammates and former coaches, including Bill Bolton, who was an assistant on that 1972 squad.

"I called him last Thursday on his death bed," Bolton said. "And before we hung up he said, 'Coach. You know there will never be another Reggie Royals.'"

"He recognized everybody that called right away," King said. "And he went back to calling them by their nicknames. It was crazy."

Royals, whose nickname was "Tree," hadn't talked to most of his teammates in years. Even decades. They were still his teammates, though. That would never change.

"That was such a close team," FSU coach Hugh Durham said of the 1972 squad. "That was a close group of guys."

As he became weaker and weaker from the cancer, the likelihood that Royals would die alone - in that hospice in Oklahoma - became greater and greater. He probably figured he would never see, or speak, to his old friends again.

But someone from the NBA Players Association called King to let him know of Royals' dire condition.

That's all it took.

Within days, the "FSU family" had brought Royals back home to Whiteville. Teammates visited. They called. They laughed with him and relived the glory days from 35 years ago. Royals smiled with them.

At his funeral, all six of his pallbearers were Florida State teammates: Otis Johnson, Ron King, Otis Cole, Greg Grady, Skip Young and Zach Perkins.

"All of us said something about how much he meant to us and the team," King said. "Because 'Tree' touched a lot of people's lives."

Bolton, along with state senator Al Lawson, a former assistant coach, and longtime FSU booster Doug Manheimer, have set up a fund to help cover funeral costs for the 1991 Florida State Hall of Fame inductee. If any Seminoles fans would like to donate, they can do so by making out a check to the Reggie Royals Memorial Fund and sending it to 400 North Adams Street, Tallahassee, Fla., 32301.

"Right now, we're trying to raise money," Bolton said. "And everybody that we've called is contributing. He was a great person. I just can't say enough about the guy."

Neither can King, who said he was shocked when he found out about Royals' condition.

"He shouldn't have been by himself," he said. "And he would've died alone. I'm just so proud of the FSU family. That was a whole lot of love he felt."